1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses, systems, and methods consistent with the present invention relate to processing a printing operation on a home network, and more particularly, to processing a printing operation on a home network that searches an available media storage device upon a request of a printing job of predetermined contents, transmits an address of the searched media storage device, and prints printing contents transmitted to the address.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a related art network printer on a home network.
As shown in FIG. 1, in a home network environment, a plurality of contents storage devices 2a and 2b that store and manage premises media contents or various contents may exist, and a plurality of printing controllers 1a, 1b, and 1c that control the network printer may also exist. It is assumed that an environment related to a general home protocol function, such as discovery and control between the devices, has been already provided, and a known technique operates in such an environment.
Each of the printing controllers 1a, 1b, and 1c is a controller of premises network devices, and can be connected to the home network according to a user's request at any time. For example, the printing controllers 1a, 1b, and 1c include handheld mobile devices, such as digital cameras and cellular phones.
The contents storage devices 2a and 2b always exist on the home network on the premises, excluding a specified case, and continuously provide a user with their functions while the user is active.
According to an existing home protocol, the device discovery on the premises home network uses a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) or Device Profile for Web Services (DPWS) multicast discovery mechanism. Further, the control is performed based on a SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) message protocol.
However, the premises network printer 3 on the home network does not have enough resources to perform printing according to the user's request.
For the premises network printer 3, the printing request and the control are set based on a personal computer (PC), and thus the PC solves problems related to the resources and printing request management. However, for the network printer 3 on the home network, processing a printing request of a user is different from the existing process, and thus a mechanism different from the existing one is required in order to process the printing request of the user on the home network.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the operation of the related art network printer on the home network.
If the printing controllers 1a, 1b, and 1c are not the PC, the printing controllers 1a, 1b, and 1c transmit the contents to the premises network printer 3, together with the printing request.
At this time, if the size of the contents to be transmitted is so large that the network printer 3 cannot receive and process the contents, or if a printing request is made by another user on the premises at a similar time and the network printer 3 manages a printing list and performs a printing job, the network printer 3 needs to receive and manage the contents for the printing requests. For example, in the case of a digital camera, as the resolution increases, the size of an image becomes so large that a general printer cannot process the image. In this case, because of the limited printer resources, printing may be not performed.
In this case, the network printer 3 may receive only the latest printing request and reject other requests. Further, when each of the printer controllers 1a, 1b, and 1c is connected to the network until its turn comes around, the network printer 3 may receive the contents and process the printing request.
However, when the printing controllers 1a, 1b, and 1c are not the PC, if the printing request is made for the premises network printer 3, the network printer 3 should mange the request and the contents. Accordingly, printing may be impossible with only the functions and resources of the existing premises network printer 3.
For example, the printing controllers 1a, 1b, and 1c on the home network do not always exist on the network after the function control command is given. In this case, the printing controllers 1a, 1b, and 1c do not exist on the home network anymore, after the contents to be printed is transmitted to the network printer 3, and the user closes the printing controller 1.
The above situation may occur when the printing controllers 1a, 1b, and 1c are digital cameras or cellular phones. Further, when printing an image from a digital camera, there are many cases in which the premises printer does not process printing at one time, according to the resolution.
When a printer to be used by the user is the network printer 3 that is used on the premises, if simultaneous requests are received from different users on the premises, such as family members who submit requests at similar times, the network printer 3 should manage the printing list. However, the home network printer 3 does not provide enough space to receive and mange the printing list and the associated contents.
Further, the printing controller 1a, 1b, or 1c should function as a contents server, and should be connected to the home network until its turn comes around.
When a general user uses a handheld mobile device as the printing controller 1a, 1b, or 1c, since the connection to the home network is kept until the printing request is completed, the user may be inconvenienced. In addition, the network printer 3 may not acquire the contents.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operation of a related art network printer based on the contents storage device on the home network. Here, the network printer based on the contents storage device provides an improved environment in comparison with the known network printer shown in FIG. 2.
The user stores the contents to be printed in the contents storage device 2, then transmits the address of the contents storage device 2 to the network printer 3 to request printing.
Next, the network printer 3 downloads the contents from the contents storage device 2 and performs printing.
The network printer 3 can download the contents and perform printing based on the address of the storage device 2, in which the content is stored. However, in this case, the user needs to set a function of storing the contents in the storage device 2, and a function of informing the network printer 3 of the address of the contents storage device 2. Alternatively, the user must set an environment by using the printing controller 1.
Such additional environment setting causes an inconvenience to the user.
Korean Unexamined Patent Application No. 2005-077300 (“Network Printing System”) discloses a network printing system that determines transmission of printing data according to a response signal received for a printing request signal, and causes a printer that receives the printing request signal to check a spooling status of data in printing, and to transmit the response signal according to a UPnP system. However, this system only prevents traffic congestion on a network, and mentions a technique that manages a printing device and performs a printing job, without needing an additional environment setting in a home network environment.